the only thing left standing after the hurricane
the only letter that this raging fire didn’t burn
a comet that did not turn into stardust
a sparkling gem forgotten in the dirt
like air
you will not see it and your life depends on it
like water
tasting bitter from the sands of discontent
hang on to it
a spiny tree below which lions await
hang on to it
and bleed and cry in pain
but keep it there
keep the faith
1. What’s the last place you traveled to, outside your own home state/country?
I bet everybody knows… my last trip came to an end a few months ago, when I came back from Dubuque, Iowa, a beautiful yet boring town between the cornfields and the Mississippi river.
2. What’s the most bizarre/unusual thing that’s ever happened to you while traveling?
Do you want the whole list???
– Meeting a totally compatible person (Minori)
– My first experience as an employee
– San Francisco/Napa valley
– Chicago
– St. Louis (man, this was really weird)
– Madison
– Nick Tickle Fairy Tale Detective (children’s play)
– Awful winter
– My first spring, fall, and summer
– Japanese food (live long and prosper, SushiStation!)
– Japanese culture & friends (hello, Kotaro!)
– Des Moines Poetry festival
– Six Flags (Raging Bull!!! Vertical Velocity!!! Superman!!!)
– Paying my own rent for the first time
– Getting to see REAL bikers and REAL white trash (it IS an experience)
– Pretty clothes that are made not only for waifs
– Really cool malls (EXCEPT Kennedy Mall in Dubuque)
To make a long story short, this whole trip was the most unusual, bizarre thing that has ever happened to me, and it has changed my life completely!
3. If you could take off to anywhere, money and time being no object, where would you go?
First, I’d go back to Dubuque to pick up Minori, and maybe Kotaro too, oh and maybe Foo! and then we’d all go back to San Francisco, or we’d go to New York, or we’d go on a tour around Japan, or around Europe, or roadtripping across the USA!
No, I got it, I’d go all around the world!!!
4. Do you prefer traveling by plane, train or car?
Get there by plane, move around by car, baby!
5. What’s the next place on your list to visit?
New York or Japan, man!
I had my first class in the university today. The teachers were okay, the classes seemed cool… DAKEDO, I couldn’t stand the excessive amount of cigarette smoke in the air. Actually, I’m mad. The Earth is rotting and people only worry about rotting their own lungs PLUS everybody else’s. I’m not the one who chose lung cancer! Why should I get it forcefully?
You know what’s the worst? The worst is I can’t do anything about it! I’m alone, swimming against the tide… and drowning.
Tomorrow I’ll take a scarf to breathe through it. There is absolutely no place in school for a pair of healthy lungs.
1. What time do you wake up on weekday mornings?
I think I’ll have to wake up at about six or five thirty. I’m not used yet to my family’s bathing schedule, and I haven’t started school so I don’t know for sure.
2. Do you sleep in on the weekends? How late?
I only wake up from eight to ten. Later is shameful.
3. Aside from waking up, what is the first thing you do in the morning?
I put on my lenses, listen to a bit of radio, if it’s a weekend I may read for a while and head for the computer.
4. How long does it take to get ready for your day?
One hour or less. I never intend to take longer than that.
5. When possible, what is your favorite place to go for breakfast?
Well… the kitchen!